Have you heard of Brackets? It's an HTML editor I recently discovered. As you might imagine, there are several of these types of programs (apps?) available. So what makes this one stand out?
Let me say up front that this is not a review of Brackets. I can't even compare it to similar apps because...I've never used an HTML editor before! Sure, I've used plain text editors. And I've used a couple HTML editor web apps in a browser, but neither one for long: W3Schools and Neocities.
In my short hand-coding HTML journey, I found some Neocities tutorials on YouTube. In one video, the vlogger was using Brackets and mentioned it. I saw it do things I had never seen before, like pop up a small window with a list of HTML tag attributes or CSS lingo to auto-complete the text while you're coding. Nice. And the simplest yet coolest thing to me: when you type the HTML start tag, the app automatically supplies the closing tag and leaves the cursor in-between! Other tag attributes get auto-completed too.
Of course, Brackets has syntax highlighting, which I find indispensable. The app also allows plug-ins and has many more advanced features; I've barely scratched its surface. One headline feature is the Inline Editor. It seems good, letting you edit an external CSS file within your HTML code for example, but I've yet to learn how to use it.
A major feature I've started appreciating, though, is the "Live Preview." I've only been practicing HTML coding on my blog for a few weeks, but I already know the dance: save the HTML file, go to browser, hit refresh, repeat. A couple of button clicks doesn't sound too bad...until you do it repeatedly. (Worse, I sometimes must also do a hard refresh in Safari via the Developer menu, adding clicks.) It helps to keep two browser windows open side-by-side. But Live Preview removes the refresh step. All I do is hit save, and the new results appear in the browser.
Using Brackets has also showed me the convenience of opening several html files from my blog at the same time within the app, letting me easily switch between them (or even view side-by-side) while coding. Edits are quicker and easier this way. It also lets me try out changes without breaking my live blog since I simply download a clone of my blog's files to work on my local drive. I can then upload and replace the edited html files for changes to go live.
Knowing little about the market of HTML editors, a few other things make Brackets stand out to me. The app was initially a project by Adobe. With such a good creative software reputation and solid technical skills, I think Brackets is a trustworthy solution. And the app is open-source and free! This makes it transparent and accessible.
So that's a bit about Brackets. If you've used it or have found a better solution, let me know. Else, I can recommend Brackets so far. Time will tell how my blog workflow changes. I'm hoping Brackets helps me streamline the process.